Daily electricity to load your batteries
22 December 2025
Band: THE RATS
Who: Hungry punks from Ghent, Belgium who have
released their smashing debut EP Disco To Disco
last year.
New Track:
The first single of their upcoming
debut album, baptized Boxing Days.
Press info: “Boxing Days” is their first release with new guitarist Eno Meulenbergs.
This line-up change opened up a renewed sense of creative freedom. You can hear it immediately on single Boxing Day, which begins in an unusually melancholic tone carried by sweeping guitars and drums, spoken word vocals and delicate strings. Once the track explodes, it’s clear the band hasn’t lost an ounce of intensity.
Lyrically, the single sits comfortably in the Fairytale of New York tradition:
Christmas as a backdrop for regret, self-reflection and resolutions that start
crumbling the moment they’re spoken aloud.
The repeated closing line “I promise next year it will get better / I promise next
year I will be better” sounds more like an attempt to convince oneself than
a reassurance for someone else.
Emile (frontman) “If Christmas is for the
family, then Boxing Day is for your mates.”
TUTV: After a moody guitar/drum intro, all hell breaks loose. No silent night with The Rats. Boxing Day is a fierce, snail-paced torch that slowly but surely heads towards a volcanic eruption. You can feel the ominous tension in the air.
Emile is joined by Lewis Duffin of British indie band Hotel Lux and Jasper De Petter of Belgian noiseninks Ronker for a louder than war finale. Your Xmas will never be the same again, folks. Watch your back for these unhinged punk grinchs.
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